“The heroic books, even if printed in the character of our mother tongue, will always be in a language dead to degenerate times; and we must laboriously seek the meaning of each word and line, conjecturing a larger sense than common use permits out of what wisdom and valor and generosity we have.” -- Henry David Thoreau

About Me

Editor for publishing company by day; skald in the Hall of Fire by night; and member of the S.H.I.E.L.D.W.A.L.L.
Essayist and reviewer for numerous web and print-based fantasy publications, including The Cimmerian, Black Gate, Mythprint, REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, The Dark Man, and SFFaudio.com.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Les Miserables--wow

It's funny how you can reach a point in your life when you think you can no longer be surprised by art, that you've experienced the depth and breath of music, painting, or literature, and art begins to seem a series of minor disappointments, a recombination of existing works, or pale imitation.

While I never quite reached those depths, I flirted with the feeling. I'm glad to report that Les Miserables woke me up out of my doldrums and made me feel a fool.

This past Christmas I got my wife and I a pair of tickets to a March 31 showing at the Opera House in Boston. I had not listened to any of the music of Les Miserables previously and I scarcely knew the storyline, save for the barest outline. I had planned to listen to some of the songs beforehand but never got around to it, and by the time Saturday rolled around I thought, "screw it, too late. I'm sure it will be a good show anyway."

I was wrong. It was great. I was not prepared for the emotion of the show, the soaring voices, nor the frank depiction of religious material. Not knowing what to expect--a rare experience in this age of the internet and instant communication and gratification--and having my expectations greatly surpassed made it all the better.

"Stars" was when I knew this show was something special. It was not sung by this gentleman, Philip Quast, but the actor who played Javert at the Opera House on Saturday looked and sounded much like him.

All in all a memorable night out on the town. Les Miserables is art at its peak. I am so glad I got to see it.

I always chuckle when I come across the "real men don't like musicals" meme. To which I reply: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Paint Your Wagon.

Of course, with me it depends heavily upon the show and the tunes in question. I fairly like Les Mis, though it struck me as a bit too... easy? It strikes me as rather easy to get powerful emotional reactions when you see all that death and misery based on real events. And where half the cast dies. Including some of the children... Still good, though, and definitely one of the top musicals, something about it just doesn't gel with me.

I have to say, it was jarring to see all the people in tuxes and evening gowns, watching a musical about the oppression and extermination of the masses.

Funny, I had the exact same thought as we were walking out afterwards!

Still good, though, and definitely one of the top musicals, something about it just doesn't gel with me.

I know what you mean, but Les Mis worked for me. I may have just been overwhelmed by the quality of the singing, which was rather incredible. Also it took me a good half hour/45 minutes or so to get a good grasp of what was happening--I wasn't expecting that there would be no dialogue--so I was expending effort listening to every scrap of song and not analyzing the events, if you know what I mean.

"Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other."